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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 27, 2006 Democrats gather to oppose Walden in 2nd District race By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune The four Democrats running for the 2nd Congressional District seat in the May 16th primary appear to have formed a mutual admiration society. They don't have a bad word to say about each other during interviews or while appearing on their joint campaign road show to energize Democrats around the massive district. But all are eager to take on incumbent U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, the Republican from Hood River who has held the post since 1998. While they describe Walden as a pleasant fellow, they say he has done little more than endorse Bush administration policies, a description that causes the incumbent to bristle. "That's something Democrats are throwing at the Republican incumbents in every congressional race across the country," he said. "There are times when I disagreed with the president and they know it." Walden said he opposed President Bush's proposal to restructure the Bonneville Power Administration as well as the administration's proposals to cut some social programs. Advertisement "I've supported restoration of funding so there has been give and take," he said. "But I have worked closely with the president to pass things like the Healthy Forest Restoration Act and help resolve the water issue in the Klamath Basin. He is of my party. I've been proud to support him on most issues." If Democratic Sen. John Kerry had been elected president in 2004, Walden figures a Democrat in his seat would have been voting with Kerry some 90 percent of the time. Observing that he has traveled the district 269 times since first being elected eight years ago, Walden said he is taking the Democratic challenge seriously. "The political dynamics are a little more hostile towards the president now," he said. "I know who sends me to Washington — the voters of the 2nd District." The Democrats, all running for political office for the first time, include construction contractor Charles "Chuck" Butcher of Baker City, businessman Dan Davis of the Applegate Valley, Bend activist Scott Silver and Carol Voisin, an instructor at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. They fault Walden for supporting a bill last fall that they say provided tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans while cutting funding for student loans, Medicaid and other social programs. The Democrats also oppose a recent Bush administration proposal to sell national forestland as a stopgap measure to raise funds for Oregon schools, support continuing federal timber receipts to rural counties and question the merits of the administration's No Child Left Behind education program. "I'm a blue-collar worker," Butcher said. "My guys employees are blue collar. Baker City is blue collar. When I looked around at the economic conditions, everybody I see in the blue-collar community is losing ground." The current administration, with Walden's approval, gives tax breaks for those in the high income bracket but leaves blue-collar workers in the economic lurch, he said. "If you look at Walden's voting record, you'll find the interest of a vast amount of people in the district is ignored," he said. "I have the common ground to speak to these people and represent them." Former Army officer Davis, who was wounded in Vietnam, said he would work to change the direction the country is headed. "Our country is not going in the right direction," he said. "If you are heading toward the waterfall in your canoe, you don't stay the course. I want to work in Congress to help change the course. "I'm tired of our country being 'us-against-them' and all of these wedge issues being brought up," he added. "We need to get people to talk about the future they are going to leave their grandchildren, not 'Who is going to give me the most votes or the most money for my campaign.' " On education, the federal No Child Left Behind program isn't working, he said. "What teachers do best is to teach kids to think, to understand, how to learn and where to find information," Davis said. "Teaching to a test designed by some bureaucrat isn't what made our country strong." Silver also rejects Walden's assurance that he represents the district voters. "Greg Walden is a rubber stamp for the Bush administration," Silver said. "I'm running because he isn't looking after the best interests of the people in this district." An anti-Iraq War activist in Bend, Silver also has been active over the years in attempting to stop a fee program from being implemented in national forests. "I'm concerned that the process by which the public could be involved in government is starting to break down," he said. "Land management agencies are no longer truly evaluating public comments. To keep the process from being further corrupted, I wanted to get involved in the process itself." The incumbent isn't standing up to those forces that are corrupting the system, he said. "The current administration is fostering a sense of insecurity so the public is more willing to accept the excesses of this administration," Silver said. "We need to stop that." The district needs a strong representative whose votes and actions better represent the district and country, Voisin said. "I'm running against Greg Walden and his voting record," she said. "He's lockstep with Bush. He had no opposition to the Patriot Act. He went right along with the war. He voted for all the appropriations bills. He has supported almost everything for the Bush administration and against the environment. "Our country is extremely vulnerable now because of our national debt, because education is in a crisis, because our health care is messed up, because the Iraqi war needs to end and because carbon fuels are killing us and our environment," she said. "Those vulnerabilities put our country at great risk at this time in our history. We need a change in direction." That includes the No Child Left Behind Act, which should be "left behind," she said. "Democracy is not a spectator sport," Voisin concluded. "My plan is to energize the Democratic base. Then I want to meet with and dialogue with Republicans and Independents before the general election." E-mail: [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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